Written by Chris Siggia

ARN PODCAST:  ASK ARN ANYTHING 05/26/20

Arn feels that the sky is the limit for Brodie Lee.  He said he has all the tools.  He is smart, durable, has a head for the business and can have a match with anybody.  Arn said that the Undertaker is the most respected man that has ever been in the business.  He does not feel the WrestleMania streak should have ever come to an end because it was more special than who is winning the world title.  He said this is especially true because Brock Lesner did not need the win to elevate him.  Arn did not want to take the Doomsday from the Road Warriors as he felt he had no control over his fall, especially after seeing J.J. Dillon broken arm taking the move in the War Games.  When the deal for Arn and Tully Blanchard fell through to come back to WCW because Tully failed a drug test, Arn had to take a pay cut from WCW’s original offer.  He said he would not have gone back to WWF when this happened because WWE could have done whatever they wanted and it could have ruined his career.  He does not believe Ric Flair would have got the Spartacus gimmick over Jim Herd suggested, even if Ric tried.  Arn’s Mount Rushmore for wrestling towns are Chicago, Manchester, Greensboro and Atlanta.

CHASING GLORY:  JTG 05/26/20

JTG and Shad Gaspard texted each other every day.  When Shad’s wife texted JTG that Shad drowned, he thought it was a prank.  When JTG was 19 years old, he went to OVW.  He took the Greyhound Bus from New York to Louisville, which was an 18 hour trip every weekend.  He was working at AMC at Times Square at this time.  The buses started breaking down in the winter time.  OVW told him he needs to move down to Louisville.  When he moved there, he lived in a hotel.  Shad, who was moving out of his apartment, told JTG to move in there.  They became good friends at that point as they had very similar backgrounds.  When JTG was one a one year old, he got third degree burns on his back from hot water.  He said he soiled his diaper and the babysitter gave him a bath and didn’t realize the water was too hot.  He spent 6 months in the hospital because of this incident.  He never took his shirt off for as he was self-conscience of his burns.  He questioned whether he wanted to get into the wrestling business because he knew he would have to take his shirt off in public, which he didn’t do until going to OVW.  Shad told him on the day of TV that he was not going out with him until he takes his shirt off.  Finally, he did and they told him and nobody noticed.  When JTG was in the amateur class in OVW, he was one of the top students.  In promo class, he said I am JTG, Just Too Good.  When he went to WWE, they asked him what JTG stood for.  He knew there were unspoken rules to be humble and saying Just Too Good may get him in the doghouse.  He told them it stood for Just Too Gangsta, so they kept the JTG name.

TWO MAN POWER TRIP OF WRESTLING:  TONY GAREA 05/26/20

Tony Garea said Jay Strongbow did not do much in the ring but got an amazing reaction because he was such a great seller.  When Strongbow made his comeback, the people exploded.  In 1973, Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkle were supposed to come in to fight Toru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji for the WWWF Tag Team Titles.  Stevens and Bockwinkle cancelled.  Vince Sr put Garea and Haystacks Calhoun together as a replacement team and they won the tag team titles.  Tanaka and Fuji couldn’t do anything with Calhoun, so Garea worked most of the match selling and eventually making the hot tag to Calhoun.  Tony Garea spent his career as a babyface.  He doesn’t feel he would have made a good heel because he said was not good using heel psychology in the ring.  His favorite tag team partner was Rick Martel.  When Garea retired from the ring, he became an agent.  He said there was a primary and secondary agent.  The primary agent at the time was Jay Strongbow, whom he learned under.  Garea started as a secondary agent that reported the box office numbers.  Garea, between working as a wrestler and an agent, worked for the WWE from 1977-2014.

WRESTLING FRIENDS WITH FLASH MORGAN:  RICOCHET 05/26/20

Ricochet said he loved working for Lucha Underground.  After seeing the look of the temple and talking with Konnan, he made the decision to work there.  He has a lot of friends and good memories from his time there.  He loved the look and the feel of how the show was shot.  At the time, he was not making good money, so he was happy how much they were paying him per match, while still being able to work the U.K., Japan and pwg.  In season 3, they filmed 36 episodes.  He had to wait until they aired before he was able to do anything else.  Without telling anybody, Lucha Underground took a 3 month break during the season, so he had to wait an additional 90 days before signing elsewhere.  He tried to get the 90 days taken down to 30 or 60 days and they said no.  He believes the NXT Takeovers were better than any PPV anywhere.  He loved his time at the Performance Center.  HHH and Shawn Michaels knew how to use him and develop his character.